Attackers live off mistakes, but the time you worry and the time sleep abandons you is the time when chances don’t appear. Great moments can linger and you replay them in your mind – nothing sticks with you like a penalty gone wrong – but they are rarely symptoms of illness in your game. That’s why I have few worries about Darwin Nunez and his form at Liverpool, because his ability is obvious and the rest he can learn. If he wants to improve, he will.
No one has missed more big chances than Nunez in the Premier League this season (15 according to Opta). Put that alongside an initial £64m ($77.6m) transfer fee, compare his 10 goals in all competitions to Erling Haaland’s 27 for Manchester City, consider the Norwegian’s cheaper cost and the Liverpool’s Premier League struggles, plus those vicious chants from opposition fans about him being “just like *** Andy Carroll”, and that doesn’t sound great, does it?
Most of this is grossly unfair, however. Nunez is a modern striker in the same sort of mold as Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane, rather than a traditional centre-forward, and he is certainly not a goal-scoring freak like Haaland (which means the most sincere praise). But then, who is it?
It wasn’t long ago that a goal every two games would have been seen as a good return for most players and perhaps Haaland, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have changed the way we see that. But they are outliers, not the norm. Not everyone can do this.
Harry Kane has scored 17 goals for Tottenham Hotspur this season and is barely mentioned because of Haaland’s blitz at Premier League defences, while Nunez’s tally of 10 in 23 appearances for Liverpool is viewed through the prism of discomfort. Jurgen Klopp’s team has been weak defensively.but their big problem is continuing to play on the high line without the energy to put pressure on in midfield and I don’t see Nunez as a big factor in that.
And 10 goals is not such a bad score. In the Premier League era, only Robbie Fowler, Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge, Salah and Diogo Jota have made it there before with Liverpool.
A deeper look at these 15 ‘big’ mistakes paints a more nuanced picture – eight of them hit the target and two hit the post. Talk to Liverpool veterans and they’ll tell you how much they love his moves, his pace and power and how Nunez always comes back for more. there was this early, stupid moment when he was sent off against Crystal Palace and maybe that hurt his confidence but the fans got behind him and that tells its own story.
I asked Mark Carey, from athletic data analyst to crunch the numbers and then watch some clips with me to find out if they backed up my theories. Because I really like what I saw with Nunez, who is still only 23 years old, a player with unbelievable talent who may not be a natural finisher. It’s obvious – glaringly – that the Uruguayan international needs to find a little more self-control in front of goal, but I don’t see a big problem with that.
What do I mean by natural finisher? It’s when you’re comfortable in the positions you’re in, when there’s no flirting. You’re not nervous, overexcited, wide-eyed, or looking like you’re thinking, “What the hell am I doing here?” Nunez has everything else. He has lightning speed, which defenders hate, he can get into good spaces and he can finish well. When the ball arrives at speed, he is deadly. That’s when he has time to think about it; that’s when it doesn’t work. He grabs the ball and runs.
Going back to the beginning, if Nunez didn’t have good chances on a regular basis I would fear for him and for Liverpool, but he does. As you can see below, his involvement in Liverpool’s shots and creating chances is not only the highest for his team, but the highest of any other Premier League player to date. It shows that he is involved, crucial and willing.
Converting those opportunities is a matter of repetition in training (we can’t forget the relative lack of experience in terms of championship starts), feeling it happen in games, liking it, feeling comfortable and then repeating. Work hard and with a little composure reaching 20-25 goals a season shouldn’t be a problem.
If you are a scout looking at some of his goals and you have never seen him miss the chances he has you would think this guy is unbelievable. He has great variation in his goals – scoring with his right foot, his left foot and some great headers too, against West Ham United (in the Premier League) and Ajax (in the Champions League).
Let’s start by looking at his most recent goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup. What is remarkable is that he actually earns the header in his own half. The key to this goal is where it starts and where it ends.
If you watch his movement as the attack rolls forward, he’s aiming where he wants to go.
If he didn’t want to score and wanted to hide, he wouldn’t even make that run or aim where he wants Trent Alexander-Arnold to put it.
When he walks away, the defender simply cannot keep up. It’s a brilliant finish – cinnamon or not. It’s a ridiculous ball from Trent, but it tells me that – while people might think he doesn’t believe it – he’s eager to score. This might seem obvious, but it means he’s not hiding, he’s not disguising anything or trying to play it safe.
It’s a similar position to the one he scored in the Premier League against Southampton. If you watch his movement, he takes five feet to the right to create space and keep to the side.
As I always say, it’s a race for the quarterback and another race for you. It’s a brilliant move because the quarterback really comes with it, which is exactly what he wants.
He creates all that space himself – you’re counting on the delivery, but it’s similar to the Wolves goal in his left-footed finish.
People talk about his connection to the ball and his finishing, but I wouldn’t mind. It wouldn’t bother me one bit how the ball got in – whether it was coming out of my foot, my ass, my shin, whatever.
The most important thing is that you are there, and then you need to connect to it – put it on the back of the network.
On the plus side, he doesn’t mind getting it wrong, but there are things he can work on.
Most notably, he needs to keep his head on straight when he has more time to think about finishing. See the example below, where he comes in behind the Aston Villa defense.
With his pace, I expected him to cross paths with Ezri Konsa here. He favors his right foot and, with the next touch, he can cross because he is already a meter ahead of Konsa. If he steps over it to open up the field (yellow arrow), he will be in the middle of the goal instead of being forced to step in with his left foot (white arrow).
If he crossed Konsa, he would have more options. Konsa cannot take him down or he will be expelled. Instead, he pulls the shot to the side…
…just like he did against Brentford…
… and an almost identical effort against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup.
That’s where you just need to keep your composure. Improving this simply comes down to time and sweat in training. I used to have sessions where I was in front of the defender as he chased me and just practiced hitting the corner of the net.
The longer you stay in these situations, the happier you feel about your surroundings and evaluate the situation. That’s part of his problem when he’s face to face – he never seems really comfortable. The more you practice, that’s when you get better.
Even looking at Liverpool’s winning goal against Leicester recently, in the build-up to Wout Faes’ own goal, it’s a clever finish by Nunez to hit the goalkeeper and it’s really unlucky to hit the crossbar.
They get the point anyway, but if you back off a fraction, maybe there’s a better decision available. With the pace the keeper is going off, Nunez had the option to go around him to the left side (shown in yellow), which I think would have been the easiest thing to do.
It’s important to consider Nuñez’s full game and not just his finishing. His pace is terrifying and when he has grass to run on – especially that left flank – not many defenders are going to catch him.
You can see this in the same Leicester game where Faes probably feels he has his back.
But it’s brilliant from Nunez as he blasts past Faes with a burst of pace…
… to get to the signature and cut it to Salah.
It’s not a problem for him to be on the left side because he is more than happy to use his left foot which will be a big benefit for him.
Even the best like Salah can drag you down! But Nunez finds it very well.
It was a great move against Leicester, but could Nunez improve his wider decision-making? Of course.
There have been a few examples this season where he’s held the ball too long when he should have let it go – the most obvious example being against Manchester City earlier this season.
With Liverpool at half-time they have a three-on-one overhead to seal the game and it’s clear what Nunez must do.
You just need to lift your head. It’s not a difficult pass for Salah and he has to do it (yellow arrow).
Instead, he fires with two players around him and the attack stops.
Being more aware of what options are available is important, but he needs to lift his head and see the pass. He’s clearly decided he’s shooting, but you have to be aware of the situation he’s in and his surroundings.
It’s easy to forget that Nunez only played two seasons in Europe’s top flight before moving to Liverpool. Before joining Benfica in 2020, his only taste of football outside of South America was in Spain’s Segunda División with Almeria.
The point is, he has plenty of time to become the world-class striker all his attributes suggest he could be and he has plenty of experienced Liverpool people to help him get there, including the fans who continue to support him. it.
For now, it’s about boot camp, pushing yourself, practicing tirelessly, finding comfort in the drudgery, and honing those skills. He will get there.
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